Crystal Redemption
by Serenitychan13
Summary: <html><head></head>Neo Queen Serenity has found her husband's box containing the last remains of his best friends from two thousand years before. She can use the power of the Silver Crystal to bring them back, but she has one stipulation for them. Current rating T, but may go up at author discretion.</html>
1. Hope

**Disclaimer: **_It's not mine! Sailor Moon, in all its forms and fashions, does not belong to me. If you sue me, you'll seriously get nothing. I'm just a college student – I've got squat._

**Author Note: **_I'll be doing another set of Baby Grands! This one is based upon the Shitennou/Four Generals getting a second chance from Serenity. It's inspired by the picture drawn by Naoko-sama of the Senshi and their Generals together as couples. In this 'verse, their souls are still stuck in the stones from Mamoru's apartment and he kept them with him in Crystal Toyko._

1 - Hope

For a thousand years, the four men had been suspended in the coldest, darkest realm anyone could ever have possibly dreamed up to torment them. The whole of that millennium, they dwelt upon the wrongs they had done – to the world around them, to their friends and loves, and to each other. They deserved this treatment for the crimes they had committed, every minute of every second of it, and they knew it. It had been such a shock, then, when light showed itself in their endless darkness and warmth followed its way into the interminable cold.

"Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoicite, and Kunzite," beckoned a distant female voice – one they had heard before, but it had been a thousand years and then a thousand more after that. "If you four are still out there, will you please answer me?"

They hadn't been able to see anything – themselves, each other, or anyone else – in so long that it took them a moment to realize they were being addressed. How were they supposed to turn around and acknowledge the lady talking to them? They could only see the light off in the distance, and they tried to move closer to it. After what could have been a second or another millennium, they heard her voice calling out to them again.

"Jadeite! Nephrite! Zoicite! Kunzite!"

She sounded like she wanted very much to speak with them! The sound of her voice pulled them closer to the light way off. Something happened that had not in their memories of being in this place! They started to _feel_ again. It was almost as if they had bodies once more! They looked down and felt abject shock – first, at discovering they could once again look in particular directions… How long had it been since they had looked _down_ and seen their own _hands_? The four looked back towards the light in stunned silence, feeling funny at feeling their mouths hanging open.

"Please!" cried the voice again. "Please, answer me!"

The one with the long white hair regained his senses first.

"I… We're here, my lady!" he called back, stretching out a hand through the darkness. "We can hear you!"

The four of them could practically hear her smile! Taking the lead as he always had, the white-haired man turned to his comrades and indicated that they should all go on. Zoicite followed close behind him, while Nephrite made space for the two of them to go ahead. Jadeite hung back as if unsure he should follow at all. The light got closer to them, opening up wider as they drew up closer to it. In seconds, they could see the outline of the lady who had clearly been reaching out to them.

She had her hair up in the two round-topped ponytails they all had such vague memories of, and she stood before them in a pristine white dress that swept the floor. She had a crescent-shaped wand in her hand and as close to a stern expression on her face as she could manage. They could tell that, as always before, she still smiled more easily than anything else. However, she stepped forward without that usual smile, looking the four of them up and down. Blinking twice, she all of a sudden turned very bright red!

"Oh! Excuse me!" She waved her wand in a sweeping motion across their fronts. "I didn't realize you would come out with no clothes on!"

The four men looked off in different directions, their cheeks pinking as well as they felt clothing appearing on their bodies. When they looked down, they saw uniforms that seemed familiar to them. The white-haired man had a cape on, and the top button of his greatcoat hung open. He looked around at his former comrades – the men he had seen as his best friends and greatest warriors. They hunched their shoulders collectively and waited for the lady's judgment. Zoicite, Nephrite, and Jadeite glanced sidelong at their leader, waiting on him as always for instruction.

"What is it you require of us, my lady?" he ventured, sure she was about to take that wand and zap the four of them into oblivion. "We are at your service, I assure you."

She tilted her head, and the smile did not quite return yet to her face – they could tell she wanted to! Now that they had their clothes back, she could look them over as she originally wanted to. They looked frightened, and she had expected that. By all rights, she could destroy them in a moment. By their faces, she could guess that they knew. She took one more step toward them. This time, she lowered the wand to show them that she meant them no malice. The tiny, formidable Neo Queen stared up at the four with her huge, searching blue eyes.

"Let me ask you four just two questions," she started.

Her voice shook with the effort it took to say the words. The four regarded her with less fear and more curiosity. She had the wand in her hand as if she had something she wanted so badly to do with it. The giant blue eyes blinked at them. Whatever her question, they would not be able to lie to her.

"Are you sorry?"

Silently, four heads nodded in unison.

"Are you ever going to do it again?"

They knew what she asked about and they shook their heads as one again. To their surprise, Neo Queen Serenity smiled. Her entire face lit the room, and each of them felt as though she were specifically smiling at him. The four of them waited in eager trepidation for her next words. She bowed her head and studied the wand in her hands.

"Well, since you promise never to do it again, I'm willing to forgive you," she started, looking at each man in turn. "But only if you go to my friends and apologize to them too. If they forgive you, I will."


	2. Darkness

**Disclaimer: **_Nothing about Sailor Moon is mine. Seriously, the only things Sailor Moon I own are the VHS tapes, some DVDs, manga, three plastic Moon Wands that make noise, a Star Locket, and some wall scrolls. If you want to watch with me, just ask!_

2 - Darkness

The man with the long white hair, Kunzite – first of Earth, then of the Dark Kingdom, waited outside the high golden door as he had never been wont to do before. From all he could remember, he had been a man of action. Trepidation did not become him. After taking in and letting out a deeper breath than he had been aware of, he stretched his hand out to the grand brass doorknob. To his mild surprise, it twisted easily in his hand and, with a little lean, the door opened without a sound. The soft light that streamed in behind him from the hallway vaguely illuminated the anteroom. Beyond the luxuriously-furnished space, he could see another door.

No alarms went off and no one came to throw him out as his boots crossed the anteroom's threshold and he started across. The door swung gently shut of seemingly its own accord behind him when he found himself about halfway across the room. Now, he had to feel his way across in complete darkness. From what he had originally seen, the room hadn't been too densely furnished, but he still had no desire to create a noisy scene.

Besides, what went on in his head had gone a lot darker than the room around him. Since he had been in the Crystal Palace, memories had come back to him. First, they came in flashes and drips, and then they came in floods. He could see terrible things – destruction and flame, death and betrayal. A girl with long golden hair and heavenly blue eyes, not the Neo Queen, crumpled in tears on a stone floor. She didn't last long and he felt sick to his stomach as he watched himself finish her.

Kunzite had to shake his head violently before he could continue across the room. He could feel along with his boots well enough to avoid the furniture, but still had to hold his hands in front of him. A bump had him finding one of the chaise lounges. Upon steering away from it, he found that it actually had not been that far from where he stood to the door. His hand found another giant doorknob – this one probably also brass – and he had to freeze where he stood.

After several steeling breaths, he allowed himself to twist the knob. This time, the door made a soft swishing noise as the bottom edge slid over the thick carpet. A second allowed him to determine that he had not woken her. For the first time in a thousand years times two, he could simply stand and watch her for just a moment as she slept. It gave him an old-time, peaceful feeling; something he had not been able to feel in so long it felt new again.

"My lady…" he whispered as he approached her bed. "My lady, will you please wake up?"

She had her hand beside her face, which she had turned away from him.

"You still sleep with your hair fluffed over your pillow, I see…" he mused, mostly to himself – he couldn't help smiling. "Princess of Venus… Do wake up."

The hand scooted back under the thick nest of sheets and blankets with the huge orange down comforter on top. Her cheek turned on the pillow and the shape of her body shifted. With a small noise, she scrunched her nose and opened her eyes. Blinking, startled, she sat up, yanking the covers close to her chest.

"Who are- What is this?" she demanded, her voice hoarse from sleep.

Kunzite drew a deep breath – he had one chance.

"Serenity, in her great mercy, has given my body back to me," he started. "So that I could come to you and ask your forgiveness for the wrongs I have done…"

Minako tilted her head at him like she couldn't believe her eyes.

"You… You're here?" she asked, still looking rather confused.

He nodded to her and knelt beside her bed.

"I know it must sound hollow now, after all this time," he continued to her, looking at her bangs since he could not yet meet her eyes. "But I came to ask… no… beg you for a way to spend the next thousand years atoning for all my sins… Against you, your friends, my own friends, the man I would call my brother, and the ones my comrades committed – I will now personally repent for all of them."

Minako blinked slowly up at him. Leaning over, she reached out to take the hand of the man who knelt beside her bed.

"All you have to do is say you're sorry," she told him. "And that was a pretty good job to me!"

She switched on the lamp beside her bed, scrunching her nose against the light, and patted the empty foot of bed space at her side.

"That's… all?" Kunzite half-whispered in disbelief. "All is forgiven, just with that?"

Still smiling and looking not-entirely-awake, Minako nodded.

"What else did you think you needed?" she all but teased, winking down at her wrinkled bed.

She pulled at his hand until, as if moving in a dream, he sat beside her. She settled back into bed with her hair fluffed over her pillow as it had been before. Her clear blue eyes, so very like her Queen's, fell half-closed as she smiled up at him.

"But… I killed you," Kunzite all but growled, staring at his boots. "You would be right to tell me I am unforgivable."

The blonde tugged at his hand as if asking him to lie with her.

"But I forgive you," she insisted. Then, she turned on her side to face him. "Don't you understand? You're _here_! And you said you're sorry. I've waited just as long as you have for this! Now come here!"

Minako pulled more insistently at Kunzite's gloved hand.

"We have a thousand years to make up for," she whispered. "Time to come out of the darkness…"

Slowly, Kunzite turned to her.


	3. Celestial

**Disclaimer: **_It's mine! It's all mine! Yes! I own it now! Yeah, no – no, I really don't. I own absolutely nothing. Nothing Sailor Moon is mine. I own nothing at all, so don't sue me cos you will get jack and squat…_

**Author Note/Rating Change: **_This one is rated M. No, it's not explicit or anything, but it's enough mental imagery that I now legally have to tell anyone under the legal age to shoo. If you choose not to shoo and you get offended or traumatized or whatever, that is now officially not my fault – so shoo!_

3 – Celestial

Kunzite might have, at one point in his lifetimes, given this move careful thought so as to make sure that neither party had regrets in the morning. However, that man died a thousand years ago and then another thousand years before that. Out of the window went the general, the soldier, the tactician, and all the other things he pretended to be before he could be a man overcome by love! Now, he could focus only on the blue eyes blinking up at him, the smiling pink lips, and the tease of yellow nightgown. He slid one hand along the soft cheek and let himself fall head-over-heels into the kiss he had no idea he had been waiting so long for. Minako threw one arm around her forever love and tried her best to pull him as close as she could.

It was an awkward angle, though, and they dissolved into laughter as their noses collided every time they tried again! Smiling as he never thought he would again and still laughing a little, Kunzite pulled back and leaned over the side of the bed to unlace his boots. Behind him, he felt the bed shifting. Minako had moved to sit up on her knees behind him. He leaned back carefully into the touches of teasing fingers combing their way through his hair. Her hands slid comfortingly down the sides of his neck and across his collar bones to unfasten his cape, letting it drop. Before she could go any further into his jacket, Kunzite caught her hands.

"Please… don't," he whispered, his voice coming from deep in his chest. "I've waited so long… And now I just want to remember how it feels."

Next second, he felt her forehead resting on his shoulder – she understood. At least, she pretended long enough to help him out of the rest of his clothes. Her pale yellow nightgown joined the pile on the floor and she fell back into her gigantic pile of pillow. The motion sent her long gold hair in all directions. For the first in too many thousand years, Kunzite joined her in the warmth of her bed, his arms enveloping her as he so vaguely remembered doing. Their movement somehow caught the lamp and sent it crashing to the floor. Kunzite swore under his breath.

"No matter!" chirped Minako, nestling closer to her lover's chest. "We have the stars… and the moon!"

As if on cue, the curtains of her palatial windows blew open to reveal infinite stars and a brilliant full moon. Minako smiled mischievously as she watched her own hand, illuminated by the newfound light, tracing over Kunzite's chiseled shoulder. She smiled and sighed, enjoying it as she had wanted to for so very long now as his lips re-rediscovered _that _place on the side of her throat. A giggle tumbled from her lips and she suddenly remembered how much his hair could tickle! Kunzite smiled against her skin and gave her bum a pinch just to make her laugh again. Then, he growled in indignation when she pinched him back!

"Forget the stars out there," he pretended to sound dangerous as he pinned her beneath him. "By the time you're done paying for that, you'll be seeing them in here…"

For a second, she pretended to look frightened before sticking out her tongue and grinning at him. Secretly – or maybe not so much – she loved it when he got a little aggressive, since she could "aggress" right back and then they'd both get a good night's sleep! Her victory, however, was short-lived as his hand teased its way down her body and found a place between her legs. Yes, she saw stars for a moment… Her fingernails scored the skin of his shoulders in response. He kept growling in her ear as he pressed himself down on her, remembering how it made her cling to him. The hands that assured him his shoulders would burn in the morning threaded into his hair when his lips found hers again.

"Now… I can never get enough of you," he whispered when he pulled back. "I could spend the rest of days remembering everything I ever knew and learning everything I didn't."

He didn't give her time to respond before attacking the hollow where her neck and shoulder met with lips, tongue, and teeth. His hand kept playing havoc with her senses, and he paid no mind to the frantic grip of her hands in his hair except to let it spur him on. Minako squirmed under him, managing to free herself only enough to wrap her legs around him. That had always been his favorite, and he let her know it still was by giving her backside an appreciative squeeze. This pause gave her only a moment to catch her breath.

After that, Kunzite gave her no breaks at all. His hands and mouth gave her all they could, grateful to receive her writhing and moaning in return. Her legs shook while her head tossed in absolute abandon on her pillow. Vaguely, she hoped the walls in the palace were thick enough that the girls couldn't hear most of this. They'd give her a hard time either way, of course – they always knew, whatever had been happening… But she couldn't think terribly much more as she found herself swept away once more when her lover curled his fingers within her again.

"Oh… oh goddess… Stop!" she finally panted.

Kunzite stared at her, wild-eyed and almost frightened.

"For hell's sake, why?" he demanded. "Have I…?"

She grabbed his wrist and tried to pull his hand away from her – it was too much!

"No… No…" she insisted as hard as she could – and that was not terribly as her voice shook. "You didn't…"

He tilted his head at her, the grin she remembered returning to his lips.

"Then what is it?" he asked.

She blushed to the roots of her hair.

"I want to make you see stars too."


	4. Awe

**Disclaimer: **_Not a bit of Sailor Moon is mine, and I don't do witty disclaimers. It's freaking 2:30 in the morning and I just don't feel like it. Not mine, don't sue. Got it? Good._

4 - Awe

Zoicite turned over the memories of his last two lifetimes over and over in his head, feeling sick at his stomach at the thoughts. Yes, he had loved Kunzite when he was in his right mind, but not like that – as a brother, a comrade! Memories of things he absolutely should not have done with someone he respected so flashed through his mind and he had to lean heavily on the wall a moment. After swallowing hard, he reached out for the brass doorknob and tried not to faint upon opening it. He saw the dark anteroom in front of him. For a terrible second, he seriously contemplated making a run for it and hoping Serenity would understand. No – he had died a coward twice before and he refused to do so again. Someone had helpfully left a table lamp on, so he did not have to feel his way across the room.

The second doorknob caused him to hesitate as if it might do him an electric shock. Well, no, he thought with a wry grin. Nephrite had to be dealing with something like that down the hallway. As for the here and now, Zoicite twisted the second doorknob and swallowed hard before stepping in. He took his time in approaching the huge bed all swathed in blue coverings. She had always wanted a canopy bed, he remembered her saying. Now, she had one – the chiffon hanging from the ceiling made it look as if the bed had come from the lost city of Atlantis.

"Princess…" whispered the blonde man, looking lost as he approached her bed. "Princess Ami, will you wake up?"

He pulled back the curtain at her bedside to find that she still slept just the way he remembered: all bunched up in a little ball with her covers wrapped tightly around her. Even her face hid under everything, with just her bed-frazzled hair poking out onto her pillow. Zoicite had to hold himself back from reaching out to stroke her hair. He took another deep breath and laid a gentle hand on the pile of blankets instead.

"Ami… please wake up," he encouraged again. "I'm here."

So maybe a bit of the ego that had betrayed him had followed him this far into the future… When she woke, he counted on her to bring him back down to size, as she had always done before. The lump of blue blankets stirred fitfully and made a couple of disgruntled noises. Zoicite braced himself. Ami, normally ever the picture of quiet calm and cheerfulness, could be truly frightening when unexpectedly awakened!

"Mmmph…" she grunted as she turned over. "What is going _on_?"

One hand reached for the glasses on her nightstand and instead made contact with a solid body.

"AGH!" she yelped, sitting bolt upright and squinting wildly in every direction. "How did you get in- Who- Oh my…"

Her sleep-blurred vision had settled on the outline of the blonde man beside her bed and for a second it looked as if she might faint.

"How can this be?" she whispered, mostly to herself at first. "Zoicite?"

Without preamble, Zoicite descended gracefully to his knees and took her hand.

"Ami… It's been too long," he all but sighed. "Your gracious friend has given me the opportunity to come here and ask your forgiveness. I have done you and your friends many wrongs… and my friends as well. I have no right to ask anything of you, but… In your wisdom, will you forgive me, Princess of Mercury?"

With her blue hair standing almost on end, Ami's mouth worked soundlessly for a moment.

"Goodness…" she said finally. "After all this time, Zoicite… You certainly still know how to make a speech!"

Zoicite kept his head bowed for a second, absolutely sure he had blown it entirely, but then he heard the telltale soft giggle. She always chastised him for his bravado, but in the most affectionate way that only she could. He looked up at her when she tugged lightly on his hands. Even with her bed hair and the sleep in her eyes, she remained the scholarly princess and warrior who had won his heart. Nothing he could experience in all the time and space out there could compare to realizing that, yes, she loved him still.

"Then…" he began shyly – something he did not show often, and only to her. "May I ask for my lady's forgiveness?"

Her delicate features went stern.

"Well, if Serenity has chosen to forgive you, then I trust her judgment," she told him. "As long as you are truly repentant, I forgive you as well."

The blonde man's heart beat in his throat and he wondered if she would allow him to kiss her hands. When he leaned closer, she did not pull away. His green eyes blinked, awestruck, at her. Of all the Senshi – except maybe that girl from Mars – he had expected her to be the least open to this. After all, her decisions in the past had all been based on the study of history and precedent. To date, he had now, as they say, blown it rather magnificently… and twice over, at that!

"Are you sure?" he asked her before he could stop himself. He took a deep breath and, though he damned himself, continued. "After all, I have done wrongs beyond those of my comrades…"

She shook her head.

"It doesn't matter now," she assured him. "All of that is far in the past now. All that is left is for you to tell me…"

Normally, he knew it was a pet peeve that he cut her off, but he had to.

"I am so sorry, Ami," he whispered, resting his cheek on the back of her left hand. "And I will do anything you ask of me to make up for my wrongdoing."

His heart nearly stopped for a third time when he looked up to see her smiling at him.

"Then all is forgiven."


	5. Repentance

**Disclaimer: **_Okay, I've officially written three of these damn things in one night. That's 1. Too much, and 2. Enough for y'all to get that I do not own Sailor Moon! I'm going to finish listening to the Pastoral Symphony and go to bed! It's almost 3:30 in the blessed AM…_

5 – Repentance

"Zoicite, you can get off the floor," Ami nudged, holding his cheek gently in the palm of her hand. "I won't bite you, you know."

The old mischievous grin came back and his green eyes flashed at her.

"What if I want you to?" he challenged, still on his knees.

She blushed, just like he knew she would – she always had. Instead of responding with words, she tapped his nose lightly and nodded demurely to the spot on the bed next to her. Zoicite rose gracefully to his feet and slid into the space she indicated, posing intentionally on his side. Ami settled back into her cluster of blankets, curling one arm under her pillow as she settled in. Blue eyes blinked serenely up at him. For a long moment, neither of them said anything, but then Zoicite noticed her gaze growing clouded by something he could not place.

"Ami… Love, is something the matter?" he asked, reaching out to smooth her hair off her forehead. It bounced back as it always did.

The Princess of Mercury looked suddenly as though she might cry.

"I've seen people back from the dead before," she whispered, catching his hand and holding it to her cheek. "I've come back myself. But… I had never expected to see you again."

A tear slid out of her eye and hit the pillow before her lover could catch it – she had not blinked since she had lain back down.

"And I'm afraid to close my eyes now," she continued, her eyes shining with more tears. "If I blink… or if I go back to sleep… I'll open them and you won't be here."

Zoicite felt his heart hurt in his chest, partially shocked that he could feel his heart again in the first place – it had been so long since he had one. He let out a breath he did not realize he had been holding deeply in. His lips curved into a soft, pure smile that he had always reserved only for her. Pulling his hand back for a moment, he pulled his white glove off with his teeth. Next moment, a warm palm almost too smooth to be a warrior's cupped her cheek tenderly. Ami's hand returned to its position over it, her expression losing some of its disbelief.

"Ami, I swear to you," Zoicite comforted her, running the pad of his thumb along the delicate line of her cheek bone. "If ever you wake again without me at your side, it will be against my will… or if you have once more banished me to the sofa!"

Her cheeks turned a darker shade of pink once more – one quite fetching on her, and tears began to flow freely down her cheeks.

"Ami!" he protested, feeling wrong-footed. "What? I don't understand – why are you crying now?"

The hand that had been under her pillow snaked out to grab his free hand and, with strength he often forgot she possessed, she pulled him down beside her. Before he could properly react, he found himself with his arms full of blue-haired angel. Her lips crashed into his like a wave from the sea and her hands tangled into his carefully-perfectly-imperfect ponytail with abandon few knew from her. Sighing in heavenly relief, Zoicite wound his arms around her in return. Ami squirmed to extricate herself from her nightly blanket cocoon, trying to twine their bodies as close together as she possibly could.

When they separated, Ami could still hardly believe her eyes as she dared to open them. As he promised, Zoicite's green eyes shone back at her. He closed those eyes and pressed his lips to the back of her hand, just as he had done the moment they had been introduced. She had always been so practical that she had only allowed herself to dream of this a rare few times. So much of her past had been spent shut away in libraries and hiding behind books. All of it, she now remembered, helped her push back the memories of this right here – of a warm, wonderful man who loved her. She could feel his heart, strong in his chest, beating right against hers as they held each other.

'I must remember to thank Serenity tomorrow,' she thought, gazing at Zoicite's delicately masculine features. '… Or maybe the day after that, I should think."

Her thoughts caused her to blush, a condition that deepened at Zoicite's lips finding hers once more. This time, they touched each other slowly, even carefully – both minds came to the guarded realization that there was no need for desperation now. They parted for only long enough that most of Zoicite's wardrobe hit the floor. When she held the covers back that he might rejoin her, it cemented in his mind that her forgiveness was forever – never did Princess Ami allow night to chill her! The lightest breezes in the night made her shiver, as thin as she was. Feeling the pink in his own cheeks travel down his neck to the tops of his shoulders, he settled beside her and held her. His hands glided up and down her sides as his lips pressed themselves to her temple.

"I meant what I said," he reassured her. "I mean to spend the rest of the ages proving myself to you – I will do _whatever _it takes…"

The tone of his voice had turned hot, like cinnamon in the form of sound. Ami writhed against him, pressing certain parts of her back _just enough_ to make an impression. Her head tilted on his shoulder, causing her breath to fan warmly against his neck. She felt his reaction instantly when one hand came to rest on his finely muscled thigh. His hand glided over as much of her as he could stand before taking hold of her wrist and stopping her. When she looked up at him in half-wanton confusion, he smiled.

"And I fully intend," he growled, "… to take my time."


	6. Sadness

**Disclaimer: **_Still not mine. Still don't sue. Getting right sick and tired of trying to find creative ways to tell y'all that I do not own Sailor Moon…_

6 – Sadness

He could still hear a little girl crying in the back of his mind as he approached the door. What was her name? As much as the former general Nephrite thought, he could not form her name in his mind for the life of him. Though Serenity's words, the promises of forgiveness, echoed in round and round his ears, he could not shake the feeling of overwhelming sadness. He had left someone having done them a great wrong. It was her voice he could hear, her vague cries begging him not to leave her… and something about a chocolate parfait.

His hand found the doorknob almost absently and he opened the great door as if it had already been ingrained as a lifelong habit. He glided easily across the plush carpeting of the anteroom to the second door that led to the bedroom. Nephrite sighed heavily, as quietly as he could, as he stood for a moment to stare at the door. He had committed so many sins in his two previous lifetimes. The girl's voice in his head had subsided for only a moment when a young woman's yells replaced it. He could see her pained face in the image before him as if he had just hurt her again. Shaking his head to clear it, he reached out and turned the brass doorknob. This time, he hesitated.

"Makoto?" he called in the softest voice he could manage without actually whispering. "Makoto, are you awake?"

The thunder warrior sat up with a start and threw the lamp at her bedside straight in the direction of the sound that had awakened her. Her brown hair, for once free of its ponytail, flew everywhere as she vaulted out of her bed into a fighting stance. Nephrite ducked the lamp and winced as it shattered on the wall behind him. He watched his princess from two thousand years ago with guarded eyes. Starlight from the open window glinted off her green gaze as she stared around the room for the source of her unexpected awakening.

"All right, who's there?" She demanded an answer in a voice hoarse from sleep. "I know you're in here and you picked the wrong night to mess with the Crystal Palace!"

Nephrite took a step forward, keeping careful watch on her silhouette in the starlight. A strange, vestigial pain in his jaw reminded him that he once found out the hard way how hard she hit. He could see her body, clad only in a cropped camisole and cheeky (he could only assume matching) bottoms. Before he could restrain himself and act in clear thought, he had spoken.

"I wonder if your favorite color is still sugar-pink," he mused aloud.

He felt the warning crackle of lightning. Next moment, he had to wonder if half his teeth were intact as the Princess of Jupiter's fist collided with his jaw. How she had seen him in the next-to-darkness, he had no idea – but he guessed he could expect nothing else. The roundhouse kick, however, he could predict and he dodged it… a little less easily than he would have liked to admit. Before she could recover from the missed kick, he threw both arms around her from behind. Electrical energy crackled off of her skin and he knew he didn't have long.

"Jupiter Eternal-"

"Mako, stop! No!" roared Nephrite, wincing as he realized he must have woken half the palace with that. "Stop, it's me!"

A sharp elbow dug into his rib cage, but with her arms mostly pinned to her sides, Makoto found she couldn't do much that way. She tried digging a bare heel into the right instep of her attacker, but found that to be ineffectual over his boots. Attempting to kick him in the face over her head missed as well. The force of the arms increased on her and she felt a warm cheek against her own, which she promptly attempted to bite.

"Makoto, please…" a deep, smoky voice intoned into her ear. "Calm the storm for only a moment and let me explain myself."

He heard her growl and had to turn his head quite suddenly to keep her from breaking his nose with her skull.

"Explain what?" she half-yelled with the breath she could take in. His arms held her ribs a bit close. "Who you are? Or what you're doing in my bedroom in the middle of the night?"

Nephrite growled under his breath, realizing he couldn't hold her back for much longer and if she got loose, he had approximately point-two seconds before she cracked his head open.

"Makoto... It's me – Nephrite," he told her, pressing his lips to her ear. "Your friend – your Queen – has sent me here. Now, I'm going to let you go and you're _not going to hit me._"

He should have expected that, he thought after letting go as he pressed a hand to his bruised cheek.

"How dare you show up like this!" bellowed Makoto, gearing up as if to swing at him again. "How dare you! I thought I was done crying about you! I thought you were _gone!_ What the hell is wrong with you? Showing up here and getting me all worked up again…"

She always swung wildly when she got angry, which thankfully made it easy to dodge her punches. Nephrite had to smile, even with his face stinging from two solid punches and most of a reverse head-butt. Makoto kept swinging, throwing punches and kicks in such fury that he swore he had actually fallen in love with a thunderstorm. He had forgotten how pretty she was with her hair down… Finally, her heel sailed past the same cheek that her fist had nailed twice now.

"SHE SENT ME HERE TO SAY I'M SORRY!" he finally yelled back.

Makoto stopped mid-punch.

"Oh."

She blinked at him.

"You mean it?" she asked, her voice much softer than it normally got.

The long-haired man smiled again, nodding in silence.


End file.
